Language's Point of View: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that a person's language, through its vocabulary and structure, shapes the way that person perceives reality, thinks and behaves. In reality this theory is very controversial; the strong hypothesis (that language determines thought) is practically debunked, but the weak version of the hypothesis (that language influences thought) is quite arguably true at least in some situations, though there is significant debate over the extent of how true it is and in what situations it is true.

Many Native American languages—Navajo and Apache, for instance—use the same word for 'foreigner' and 'enemy' as they were wary of people they were unfamiliar with (since they had come to know all in the area). Interesting also, it’s actually a bit like that in Indo-European languages where "guest" and "hostile" (via Latin "hostis") are both derived from the same Proto-Indo-European word meaning "stranger". In both cases it is a lack of knowledge about the subject that forces a negative connotation to the term “stranger” in societies. This automatically creates linguistic connections between a neutral word like “stranger” and a more negative word like “enemy” or a “hostile” person/thing etc.

As these languages have connected/ combined words and meanings, which initially misplaces connotation and eventually simply integrates that connotation into the word, other misconceptions have continually been made about languages being interpreted by non-native speakers. For example it's a common urban myth that the Inuit people have an unusually large number of words for 'snow'. This is an illusion caused by the particularities of Inuit grammar, and the fact there are multiple dialects of the Inuit language. In fact, in each dialect they don't have a large number of words for ‘snow’, but have a detailed terminology for different types of snow. (Examples found in article: “What are nine Eskimo words for snow”) This makes sense as they live in a place where it's snowy almost year round and knowing what kind of snow you're dealing with could be vital in many situations. Then, too, English has quite a number of words for snow itself - especially English spoken by people in places where it snows a lot. Just goes to show, the inverse Sapir-Whorf effect - that language tends to adapt rather quickly in order to more easily convey concepts one needs to talk about, is inarguably true.

“An estimated 7,000 languages are spoken in the world but more than half of them are dying out so fast that they will be lost completely by the end of the century as children learn more common languages, such as English or Spanish.” -Native languages hold the key to saving species

So if the weak version of Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is at all correct in that language influences thought, then we are losing all of these different culture’s ways of thinking and the knowledge that they’ve acquired through these particular ways of thinking.

In the movie “Teachings of the Tree People” there are an incredible number of examples of this knowledge, which was acquired through their belief in the coexistence, and interconnectedness of man and nature, that is quickly becoming extinct – with language, but also if this hypothesis is correct, it is possible that knowledge is becoming extinct in direct correlation with the loss of language- because of it. Think about it, one of the best ways to encourage the degradation of a culture is to create a lack of interest among its adolescent population – and what’s a great way to do that? To not allow their native language to be their first language, in terms of this hypothesis, to give them a different way to think, behave, and perceive the world right off the bat.

In this movie Bruce Miller (above) is the sort of “main character” and his life story is a very interesting one. This Skokomish man as a youth went to a western college, joined the army and served for America overseas, he lived in New York and was a member of the Native American Theater, and after all of his travels and life as a westerner he ached for home, so he went back to his home in Washington State and lived among his people as an elder who knew many of the old ways and traditions. He was so important to the native peoples for this reason, he grew up in extended family and not a boarding school like many – he had knowledge he could pass down to the next generation to keep the culture alive. He taught some people how to weave baskets, some to strip a tree's bark for the materials to create shelter, others of the native plants species and their medicinal uses. Their knowledge was of the surrounding nature because their “perception of the world,” their thought patterns, as well as their language were shaped by the world around them, and by the belief that man and nature could live in “coeval,” a mutual determining relationship.

Those plants and animals that these natives are not only closely tied to, but also very knowledgeable of are needlessly becoming extinct or threatened in the same way the languages are. Buried in some of these languages is the key to learning more about them and maybe even saving them.

Dr. David Harrison (in the article quoted above) cited the example of a South American skipper butterfly, Astraptes fulgerator, which scientists thought was just one species until a DNA study six years ago revealed that it was in fact 10 different species whose camouflaged coloration made the adult forms appear practically identical to one another.

If the scientists studying this species had spoken to the Tzeltal-speaking people of Mexico (descendants of the Maya) they might have come to this conclusion much sooner because Tzeltal has several descriptions of the butterflies based on the different kinds of caterpillar. The people living in the territory of these butterflies care very little about the adult butterfly, but care very much about the larvae because the caterpillars affect their crops and agriculture; in fact their survival could ultimately depend (some years) on their knowledge of which larvae is eating which crop etc. Because of this they have a very fine-tuned classification system for them.

Dr. Harris said “Indigenous people often have classification systems that are often more fine-grained and more precise than what Western science knows about species and their territories."

If, as in this case their knowledge of the species is less obvious than say, medicinal uses (which westerners are very interested in), then the knowledge embedded in their language, and the point of view that the specific language creates in a person can die forever with that language. We cannot let this trend continue; we cannot let upwards of 3,500 languages be lost by the turn of the century.


Stephanie

How nature became "man’s" pet/ hobby/life source/ and nightmare all at once.

The pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum in Rome, Big Ben in London, Eifel Tower in Paris, Washington Monument in Washington, DC, or the Taj Mahall in India. Man makes his mark wherever he goes.

Eifel Tower

Taj Mahall

For centuries man has been doing just this, but maybe I should clarify “man” - Western man. Nature is something to be feared, to be changed, or to retreat to when in need of spiritual release. Think about it…

Greeks/ Romans Myths – Charybdis was once a nymph-daughter of Poseidon and Gaia who flooded lands for her father's underwater kingdom until Zeus (or in some cases by Circa) turned her into a monster and have her suck in and out water three times an day (the tides). She lived in a cave at one side of the Strait of Messina, opposite the monster Scylla (sea monster), the two of them forming a dangerous threat to passing ships.

American Folklore- Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is purportedly an ape-like creature that inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid. This ape-man draws plenty of media attention, and though presented as hoax and folklore still makes people more cautious about entering certain forests.

French Tales– The Beast of Gévaudan is a name given to man-eating wolf-like animals alleged to have terrorized the former province of Gévaudan in the Mountains in south-central France from 1764 to 1767. There were always said to be eye-witnesses. Women, children, and eventually men were discouraged by their community and official guardsmen to go into forests or high grass during this time period. The beast was also said to have connections to Satan and therefore everyone should be attending Mass and services as often as possible.

Mexican Folklore – The chupacabras is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas. It is associated more recently with sightings of an allegedly unknown animal in Puerto Rico (where these sightings were first reported), Mexico, and the United States, especially in the latter's Latin American communities. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats.

All of these cultures were scared – to some extent – to venture into nature and leave the civilized world at their backs. They created stories and myths that not only instilled a fear of nature into its citizens, but also blamed nature for all of the deaths that somehow occurred in nature, therein giving it an all around negative connotation.

This ignorance and fear stems from a lack of knowledge about the environment that they were living in. When housing became easy, and the food source changed from personal livestock and agriculture to people obtaining their necessities from market places and others, western society as a whole (any of the different societies) gradually forgot about how to coexist with the land, what it meant to plant/ harvest your own food, and the mutually determining relationship between Nature and Culture.

Case and Point: The Kayapó.

Researcher Darrel Posey discusses the indigenous people’s (Kayapó) management of the land, and recognizes that the forest patches are often in very close vicinity to villages, initially estimating that about 75% of those patches are manmade. He writes about how the Kayapó create mosaic forests that actually mimic nature (biomimicry). The forests rely on these people for their great biodiversity and the people need the forest for basic necessities.

BBC Article including the picture above

They are coeval (University of Washington - Professor Peña’s term) – they grew and developed together, balancing out.

They too created myths – however these, though still considered“stories” were simply a way of translating real, factual information to the general public (being studied in Ethobiology) instead of legitimately stating fiction as fact based on loose accounts by many people that were probably incredibly similar to the game “telephone” in terms of dependability.

The Kayápo people believed in a metaphysical eel, a sacred entity know as “Kr’yak.” This eel was said to have frequented certain ponds or streams along the Xingu River during certain times of year and while it occupied the water, no fisherman would fish there. The times during which this sacred eel occupied the water coincided with the spawning season of native fish species. The lesson to be learned from this story is that just because a group of people does not use the “language” of conservation biology does not meant that they are ignorant of relationships between organisms in their environment or that they don’t have their own reasons/ methods for conservation of their “place.”

Why does the typical “western man,” or western society in general fear nature and desire control over instead of cooperation with? Because they do not understand it; they forgot about that possibility.

Stephanie